1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording system (e.g. optical disk) in which is recorded with multimedia information including images such as dynamic and static images, as well as voice. Particularly, the invention is concerned with an interactive recording/reproducing system which is correlated interactively with operations made by a user using a personal computer or the like and which reproduces multimedia information and text data from a package medium such as an optical disk and a network medium.
2. Description of Related Art
With regard to a multimedia information recording system which is interactively correlated with operations of a user, a Video-CD was introduced in Nikkei Electronics (Nov. 8, 1993). In such a CD-ROM of this Video-CD, there are recorded image data such as dynamic and static images, audio data such as music and accompanying sound effects, and further, reproduction control data which control reproduction of the image data and audio data in accordance with operations of a user. By utilizing the recorded reproduction control data, the Video-CD realizes reproduction which is interactive with the user. Further, the Video-CD defines a file system conforming to ISO 9660 as a recording system for a CD-ROM, and has been reportedly easily reproducible with a corresponding personal computer provided with means for reproducing image data (conforming to the MPEG standard).
Further, as a system which is a combination of a computer and image data, a picture-in-picture system was disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-227381 (1992). According to this system, image data stored in a video RAM disposed within a TV set is transferred through a computer interface to a computer having an external recording medium, thereby permitting a common utilization of image data between the two.
The teachings of each of the above-listed and any below-listed references are herein incorporated by reference.
Turning now to problems in the art, the Video-CD standard does not define any reproduction procedure in a case where text data is used as reproduction data, although image data and audio data can be reproduced using a personal computer. In the case of a character display, therefore, there is no other way than recording text data as image data of the character display, thus resulting in a data volume that becomes considerably larger in comparison with other text data (e.g., ASCII text data) having the same character information.
Further, according to the above-described picture-in-picture system, it is possible to fetch image data in a TV set into a computer, but nothing is shown therein about the relation between the image data thus taken in and the data presented by the personal computer itself.